So Are Ya Jollied UP Yet?

Tags

Contrarian, holidays, Humor, life in the foothills, lifestyle

So how’s it goin’ out there?

I mean, are ya all Christmasy yet?

Depending on your gender, you’re either yawning about now, or twisting your hair into frizzles as you gnaw at the pencil bemoaning the long list that still greets you.

Yes I said gender.

Everyone knows that MOST (remember I did say most, which I am constrained to say, since the Contrarian ALWAYS makes note of when I say ALWAYS because he suggests that it’s an unfair assessment of anyone and everyone should everyone be more to the point than anyone. Got that? Didn’t think so, so move on). Okay, again.

Everyone knows that MOST men have little to do with any festive occasion, be it Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years or Easter, the “Big Four” as I call ’em. Oh they have their little chores, but they pale in comparison to what WOMEN are called upon to do. Mostly men fetch and carry and SHOW UP reasonably on time and not looking like they just stepped out of a scene from AX MEN.

On the other hand, MOST women are the food preparers and decorators, the house cleaners,  the buyers of gifts, the wrappers, the planners, the strategic organizers. They are BUSY while the men are ZONING in front of the big screen, beer in hand and remote clutched firmly lest anyone interfere with the switching back and forth from da Bears to The Patriots game, simulcast in quadruple screen brilliant blood and gore. If you speak to them they grunt. Yes, as in “huhhhhh?” Then of course they still don’t LISTEN to a word you are saying.

I know that WOMEN do all the real work when it comes to holidays, because yesterday on Facebook, WOMEN were the one’s who were sending out seasonal greetings to all their FB friends. It was only Wednesday but WOMEN know they are about to start that run to the goal line–which is getting the damn food on the table on Christmas day. Then they can almost collapse into a puddle of goo, that is after the freakin’ food is put away and the dishes all cleaned up, which is just about the time when the masculine types will bellow out that a “snack” would be nice about now.

And of course tomorrow, the MALES will burp and fart their way to a late morning wake up, while the WOMEN are busy cleaning up all the trash from the day before and making the house somewhat presentable again for the “you know they will come” various lost relatives who come to remind you that their lives are way more interesting and fulfilling than yours, and gee, you STILL have this sofa? I remember that burn hole from when we were in high school, chit-chat.

So if they haven’t already, WOMEN are busy turning out a production line of cookies in various shapes and sizes and flavors, all to prove that they learned a thing or two from their Easy Bake Ovens. And they are wondering if card boughs draped around the front door are dated. And they are wondering if they got the right size for Uncle John’s slippers. And did they remember scotch tape? And gift cards? Are there holiday napkins? Oh lord the china needs washing. The cat is climbing through the tree again, and the dog is stealing ornaments and hiding them in his bed.

The kids are insane and need to be simply locked in their rooms until the big day. Oh and Bobby needs a hair cut, and Brenda broke her glasses again.

A WOMAN slips back and forth from one reality to another–the Christmas holiday she would love to have, and the one that is doomed to be.

A MAN, drinks his beer, flips the stations, naps, snores, and takes out the trash and feels self-satisfied with his “helping out.”

A MAN goes to the mall late at night, bemoans his limitations to the prettiest clerk he can find, and lets her figure out what he should buy. Then he buys it, and moans once more about the “wrapping thing” and he is directed to another pretty little thing who laughs at his macho jokes and dutifully wraps his gift, which he has already forgotten the contents of. He will place that baby under the tree and beam with “ain’t I greatness” when she opens it and oohs and ahhs, and sighs inwardly, wondering how many times she will have to wear “it” before she can safely stow “it” in the back of the drawer and put on the nice warm jammies she really wanted  to wear during the long cold winter.

Both MEN and WOMEN will sigh contentedly at the end of the holiday, figuring they have done another good job.

So, yeah, I know. Most of you are men. The Women are of course, already getting started with the chaos for the last 5 days.

Merry Christmas

Help Baby Jesus

Tags

Barack Obama, parenting, religious fanatics, teabaggers, the Insane Right

You may or may not know, so let me echo the announcement this morning.

Time has designated Barack H. Obama as their “Person of the Year”. . . . again.

He is one of the few who have been named twice.

I can only imagine the gnashing of teeth, the beating of dogs, the broken furniture, and the howling at the moon that is going across America among the insane Right. The great enemy of mankind, the anti-Christ, the destroyer of America has yet again duped the world. Not only did he manage to pull off an extraordinary re-election coup by fraud and deceit, but the editors of Time bought it!

With the tragedy at Newtown, no doubt he will soon remove the 2nd Amendment  from the Constitution, erasing it from the very parchment. He has done this with his dictatorial secret powers, and all will soon be lost, as America becomes the cornerstone alone with the EU of the new WORLD ORDER.

If you hadn’t noticed, guns sales are skyrocketing as smart survivalists grab up the last of the high-power weaponry before it is banned. Ammo sales are following in lockstep, as the preppers spend their last thousands tricking out that arsenal that will be their salvation when  Armageddon descends upon the quaint towns and countryside of the beloved Republic. Camouflage is the new color of the season.

If it weren’t close to being absolutely accurate, I would laugh. But frankly it’s beginning to send a shiver down my spine. As the world continues to fail to see the obvious danger and insanity of the Black Guy in the White House, the fringe element becomes more frantic in its claims and assurance that the vast majority of citizens are unable to comprehend what to them is blatantly obvious. And they are going to have to save us from ourselves.

That is the part that scares me. If they would all just go hunker down in the wilds of Wyoming or North Dakota, I guess I would be fine. But they lurk in the most normal places. I don’t mind at all those folks who go “off the grid” and live primitively in the outback of Alaska. That is fine with me. They do no harm there except to the critters they kill to eat. It is sad that they inculcate this madness into their kids, some of which will carry on the tradition. But it is no worse than those crazies from the Westboro Baptist Church and what they are teaching their kids.

Funny isn’t it, or sad, really. We would be aghast at the suggestion that there should be any rules of the road when it comes to birthing children and raising them any old way, save outright physical torture. We would not even let the idea cross our minds let alone be the topic of conversation. We freely allow people to raise their children with boatloads of hatred and revulsion at all sorts of people, places and things. In doing so, we perpetuate for another generation a fringe element of insanely crazy ideologically driven nuts.

And so the world turns.

If our children are so damn precious, and I believe they are, don’t they deserve to be raised by competent people? I don’t mean the average dsyfunctionality that perhaps most of us live with. I’m talking about parents who are so twisted that they preach hate, teach fear, and prepare their children for a future that has statistically zero chance of happening.

But of course, the devil is in the details. I recognize without even spending three seconds, that HOW you would devise such a standard and enforce it would be impossible. If we can’t figure out the budget or gun laws, what chance would we have here?

None.

And frankly, I’m pretty sure we should not.

The chances of it being administered by the “wrong” people are gigantic. It would always be the wrong people by someone’s estimation. It’s a bit like the filibuster rule. Change it and we can get some things done finally, but whoa, what happens when THEY have the majority? Yeah, therein lies the rub as the Bard would say.

But when I read that the Loonie Right is blaming gun-control advocates for the Newtown slaughter, because we have made schools “gun-free zones” and bright lights like Gohmert and McDonald and Perry ponder whether we should “arm our teachers”, well, I have pause to consider why we don’t have SOME standards of fitness to be a parent.

I mean, I can’t even adopt a dog without filling out an application, asking me a few psychologically directed questions.

Ya know what I mean?

When is a Fact a Conclusion?

Tags

2nd Amendment, anecdotal evidence, law

As we work our way emotionally through the quagmire that is the 2nd Amendment, our discussions with friends and acquaintances, and strangers for that matter, devolves all to often in “evidence” for one position or another that is defined as anecdotal.

Anecdotal evidence is that which emanates from either word of mouth or from personal experience. It relates to an experience and is offered as “evidence” for a particular viewpoint or conclusion.

During the run-up to the election when we were discussing the GOP meme that the Democrats are instituting a welfare state wherein they gift folks with free stuff in return for power.  While checking out at the grocery store, the clerk related that she “knew” a woman who was on unemployment insurance and who said she had no intention of seeking a job until she had exhausted those benefits.

The point obviously was to the clerk that unemployment benefits help ensure that people will remain on the government dole rather than look for work. It is offered for that proposition. It of course is fallacious to come to that conclusion. We have no idea how representative that particular view-point is even if true. We have no statistical evidence that that is the case.

Similarly, during the gun debate, we are beginning to hear lots of anecdotal stories, mostly about how a gun “saved” some one. A Facebook connection of mine did so recently, apparently unhappy with my FB posts that were and are admittedly anti-gun. I have not minced words on the issue. Quite frankly I favor an amendment to the 2nd Amendment which severely limits weapons possession. The person who told me “her” story about guns told a compelling story of being confronted by a drunk who demanded entrance to their home after putting his car in a ditch. He threatened to come in even though he was assured that help had been called.

The shotgun her husband had behind the locked door was never used nor even made known to the drunk. He was taken away by police. But her point was that people need guns for self-protection. I certainly sympathize with the thought. It makes one feel safer to think one has a lethal weapon should anyone break down the door. But the story, which is offered as “evidence” that people need the right to have guns is quite obviously fallacious on its face.

No gun was needed in the incident. So the evidence fails.

But the story “sounds” authentic and it “sounds” persuasive.

She asks: What would you do? Have you ever faced this kind of terror?

Yes, in fact I have. I’ve had the unpleasantness of facing a group of young men and having to run for safety. When I lived in Detroit, I suffered more than one break-in. I had my car stolen. I walked down many a street where I recalled being taught to walk away from the storefronts and alley entrances and to stay near the street to avoid being pulled in. I recalled how my boss, an African-American lawyer of high repute, told me that when I drove home at night down a particular street, that if any man jumped out in front of the car, I should keep going, get home and then call the police. I am and was all too familiar with frightening and dangerous places and times.

Yet, I also had literally dozens of friends who worked in law enforcement from the average cop on the beat to deputy chiefs. I talked to homicide detectives and traded stories, and I spoke with untold numbers of investigators. The bottom line: People who keep guns for “self-protection” don’t often ever protect themselves or anyone else. Those guns get stolen, used upon themselves, or used by other family members or friends. There are much more subject to accidents involving those weapons.

Yes, in individual cases, guns have saved lives. That will always be true. But like in poker, in life you play the odds. Or at least you should if you are smart. The smart thing is not to have guns. Of course you will never convince someone who has been threatened that they should give up their weapon. I realize that. I am just trying explain that you need to realize that your conclusion is based on personal experience and not on the law of averages.

There are a boatload of anecdotal stories about how the immunization shots given regularly “cause” autism. You cannot convince thousands of mothers and dads that they don’t. But there is so far not one solid piece of scientific evidence that they do. Anecdotal evidence often carries the day, and for some people, depending on their personal relationship to the event, always will.

I’m just trying to establish a perspective is all. Realize that your emotions play a very big part in your conclusion, and that it may not reflect accurately at all the true nature of the world.

Nobody is going to end the 2nd Amendment any time soon. We are hoping to bring some measure of sanity to the activity of gun ownership in the same way that we license barbers. Is that too much to ask?

 

 

Is It Time NOW?

Tags

editorial, gun laws, guns, NRA, Politics

My first reaction was not shock. My first reaction was, “not again”. I sighed and turned up the volume as I spent the morning cooking, listening to the reports.

Isn’t that something? I was not shocked.

How can we be shocked? This is now something that happens with regularity in this country. It’s nothing new. Another news cycle of interviews with all the usuals–the families, the almost victims, the psychologists, the police, the politicians. The awful intrusions into the private horror and despair of grieving families, the endless speculations about the “shooter.” It’s all too predictable, all to common for us now.

And the usual things are said by the usual people. “It’s time to talk about gun control.” “They are using this tragedy to push their agenda of taking our guns away from us.” “Now’s not the time to talk gun control, it’s a time to grieve.” “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” “A man in china cut 22 people with a knife. Shall we ban knives too?” This dialogue is the same, just the location changes.

And what am I to say? More of the same?

The Right is already at it. “Obama will just use this as an excuse to take away our guns. We knew he would. There will never be another election.” We are reminded that if we mention it, we are “using the tragedy.” Did we use the tragedy of Katrina when we talked about new levees for New Orleans? Did we use the tragedy when we talked about how to improve our national security after 9/11? How are we using this tragedy by discussing the insidious love affair we have in this country for violence and weaponry? How are we using this tragedy to figure out ways to stop this slaughter of the innocents?

But guns don’t kill people they tell me.

You know what? YES THEY DO. They kill people more efficiently than any other means short of bombs. Just because they need a human operator takes nothing away from their lethal potentiality.

Knives kill people. You want to ban knives?

No I don’t want to ban knives. Knives can be lethal but are a step down from guns. More people survive knife attacks than they do gun attacks. Knives take longer, you can’t mow people down with a knife.

The NRA remains steadfast that ANY legislation will take us down that “slippery slope” which ends in the total banning of guns.

WHO SAYS?

Is it the same fool that tells me that allowing gay marriage will inevitably lead down the slippery slope to animal-human marriage?

Or the one who tells me that use of marijuana will lead me down the slope to a full-blown shooting-up heroin addiction?

Or the one that tells me that masturbation will cause me to go blind?

You know what?

I’m sick of the NRA. Who are these crazy people? Why they are in the business of selling guns. They don’t want to sell less. They don’t have hearts and souls like yours and mine. They don’t care that what they produce kills. When President Obama was re-elected, gun sales went up 45%. Forty-five PERCENT. Because the NRA fools told the jackasses that love them, that Obama is gonna take away their right to buy and possess guns, and of course he’s a commie/pinko/socialist/NEW WORLD ORDER guy who is gonna destroy America so you better be prepared for the REVOLUTION.

And guess what? Gun ownership is actually down in the US. You can’t believe that can you? Neither could I at first. There are over 300 MILLION guns in America. But ownership is down. The percentage of people who own guns is DOWN. So that means that more guns are being concentrated in fewer hands. Mr. Patriot out there is building an arsenal. How’s that make you feel? Nervous? I sure am.

Explain to me why on God’s green earth or any other planet for that matter, why anyone other than the military NEEDS assault rifles, high-powered handguns, any handgun, multi-clip ammo, or any of probably a hundred other things I don’t even know about but whose only point is to kill something from as far away as possible, as surely as possible, and frankly as explosively as possible?

Tell me why such things are necessarily required in your closet, in my neighborhood?

You like to shoot them?

Fine. Let’s have licensed ranges all over the freakin’ country and you can go out there, pick the weapon of your choice and shoot at plastic deer until the cows come home. But you go home without your little friend. Get that?

You want to hunt? Fine. You can have a shotgun or a regular rifle.

Do you know it’s illegal in some states to hunt ducks with a gun that can hold more than THREE cartridges? Otherwise it’s not sporting. It’s just blasting away at a space and figuring you’ll probably hit some. Yet you can own an assault rifle with a 100 ammo clip.

This is not the wild west. No matter how romantic you think it was, it wasn’t. It was ugly and mean and people died horribly. There is nothing noble about Rambo. All your “let’s pretend we are Navy Seals and kill bad guys” video games are designed to make you comfortable with guns and the culture of violence. I promise you, the reality is nothing so fun or clean. It’s dirty, it smells bad, it looks worse, and rational people do not find such things either “fun” or exciting.

We need to stop blaming the shooters in these tragedies, for they are simply sick souls. Can you figure out why someone who feels that the world has screwed him thinks the way to go out is to kill innocents who had nothing to do with his “wrong”? No? Neither can I, which leaves the only answer–people do this because they aren’t right in the head. We need to identify them early and help them before they are so deranged that killing people in a blaze of suicidal glory sounds appropriate to them.

We need to end this.

I’ve had enough.

I’m don’t want to spend the remainder of my life wondering what’s in the mall besides the stores and the merchandise.

I don’t want to live that way or think that way.

It’s time to demand rational gun laws from our ELECTED officials, and damn them if they don’t pass it.

Enough is enough.

 

Related articles

• Why the NRA Is Still Winning the War on Guns (theatlanticwire.com)
• NRA Should Have Noses Rubbed In Mess On Floor Of Newtown Elementary School (dekerivers.wordpress.com)
• What Better Place Than Here? What Better Time Than Now? (spiffysean.com)
• Enough Unnecessary Tragedy, Time to Disarm America and the NRA (planetpov.com)
• Gun Control – When will America come to Its Senses? (afnclarke.wordpress.com)
• Is the Newtown Massacre the Mass Shooting That Starts Us Talking About Gun Control Again? (blogs.villagevoice.com)
• Of Course Today Is the Day to Talk About Gun Control (gizmodo.com)

 

Politics Trumps Logic and Good Once Again

Tags

John McCain, Politics, Susan Rice, teabaggers

There is not a lot to say that hasn’t been said.

I am simply sickened about losing what would have been a brilliant Secretary of State to the evil machinations of an old angry man who cannot get past the fact that the country rejected him and his silly girl Sarah to run the country back in 2008.

They say when John McCain decides against you, you have an enemy for life, and truth, facts, logic and common sense be damned.

A huge part of all this is in my estimation nothing more than pay back by McCain for the 2008 loss and his inability no matter how hard he tries, to cast dirt upon the President. He finally settled on an easier target–Susan Rice. Some will suggest that it is because Rice is African-American. There are claims that Rice took a few shots at McCain during the 2008 race, mostly to do with his criticisms of Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience. Rice claimed that McCain “shot from the hip, and fired first and asked questions later”. She certainly pulled no punches in indicating that his knee-jerk reactions were not the measured thoughtful response expected and need in the Chief Executive of the United States.

In the crisis in Georgia (Russia), in 2008, Rice had this to say about McCain:

SUSAN RICE: Here’s the thing David, we cannot shoot from the hip. We cannot act on the basis of ideology or preconceived notions. When this crisis began, Barack Obama, the administration indeed and all of our NATO allies took a measured and reasoned approach because we were dealing with the facts as we knew them. John McCain shot from the hip, very aggressive, very belligerent statement. He may or may not have complicated the situation.

As I said, once angered, McCain never forgives or forgets.

In addition, there is this history: I believe, that  McCain doesn’t respond well to women who are opinionated and out-spoken, something Rice certainly is. A man McCain’s age and white to boot, has difficulty dealing with a woman of color who chooses to go nose-to-nose with him. This I think resulted in the extremely nasty remarks that McCain lodged against Rice, referring to her as “not very bright” and sycophant Lindsey Graham’s remark, “I just don’t trust her.” These are white men who are not used to being set back on their heels by women in general, let alone a Black woman.

But, in the end, Susan Rice is merely the vehicle used to stick it to Obama. That has been the almost constant activity of one John Sidney McCain since 2008. Before that, his attention was focused on making George Bush look back, hence his “maverick” status. One should recall that the whole mavericky thing did not start until after the 2000 election after Bush and his Rovian campaign machine had implied that McCain had fathered an illegitimate black child.

I could let a good deal of this go as “politics” were it not for the meanness, and outright villany laid at Rice’s door. For a man who graduated nearly at the rock bottom of his class as the Naval Academy to call a Rhode’s Scholar “not very bright” is a slap in the face that is both ludicrous and laughable at the same time. It is beneath the dignity of the office of Senator.

The trouble is, nothing much seems below the dignity of a whole lot of Republicans these days, as they threaten the country with hateful legislation and dubious economic “red lines”. We hear that old Turtle, Mitch McConnell is even claiming that the recent PPP poll that found him having the lowest approval rating of any senator in Congress, to be nothing more than a “put-up-job” by the White House to make him look bad.

Meanwhile, in state houses across the country that are Republican controlled, at least until January, every attempt is being made to make life more difficult for women, unions and God knows what else. The fact is that the only base the GOP has are white folks, and that is a shrinking demographic if there ever was one. The only way that Republicans have maintained their majority in the House is because far too many of their districts have been gerrymandered to the point that no Democrat could ever win in them.

For all that has happened, it seems that the GOP is determined to, in large part,  learn not a damn thing from the fiasco they  fell victim to in 2012. The crazy right seems fully in control at this point and dictates the same crazy responses to every rational proposal. The grifting GOP media operation continues to reap millions praying upon and exploiting the fears of people who frankly just aren’t very bright as noted by any number of studies.

It’s an awful mess, and it is to the credit of the Administration that they have been able to do as much as they have. While John Kerry will make a great Secretary of State, Rice has been greatly maligned for no good reason other than that an old white man and his brown-nosing “boy” wanted to do a hit and run on Barack Obama.

I rather think that when the definitive history is written, Mr. Obama will find himself standing head and shoulders above the likes the of very very senior and very marginalized  senator from Arizona.

Related articles

• A tale of two Rices: For McCain, it’s personal (tv.msnbc.com)
• “Debilitated, Angry And Envious”: John McCain Descends Further Into Incoherence (mykeystrokes.com)
• Susan Rice battle not worth it for Obama (appeal-democrat.com)
• Oops! McCain Once Offered Identical Assessment As Susan Rice On Benghazi Attack (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
• Jon Stewart Outs John McCain as a Bitter Old F**k Who Can’t Let 2008 Go (politicususa.com)
• OPINION: SHAME ON YOU JOHN McCAIN! (lifeofafemalebiblewarrior.wordpress.com)
• Geoffrey Dunn: The Unhinging of John McCain (huffingtonpost.com)

Butterflies From My Head

Tags

budgets, critical thinking, general crap I was thinking about, Health care

As I have noted before, my head overloads at times. I figure not to deprive you of the wisdom that gushes forth unprompted. It would be a waste to well, let it go to waste.

I was thinking about words. I do some of my best thinking while plodding along my daily walk with Diego the Wonder dog of the Chihuahuan desert. I like some words, and I don’t like some words. Are you like that? Trouble is, I don’t really hate any word, so when I think of words I don’t like, I can’t remember them. If I hated them, no doubt I would. But I just dislike them.

One I did think of was embarrassment. I’m never sure when I type that sucker if it is double M and double S or if one of them is singular and if so, which one. I don’t like words with P’s in them much. I play a game similar to boggle and P words slow me down. My pinkie is apparently not as dexterous as my other fingers. And I just discovered in typing apparently, that p’s together are okay, but words like pope and people and popular screw me up because the p’s are separate. If the P word has an L in it, then I tend to get married to the backspace, because I always screw those up.

Glad I got that off my chest. Are there letters you don’t like? I have to think more about that.

I read a few days ago that some professorial type did a study on Fox watchers. I mean he actually talked to admitted Fox watchers. Actually he TESTED Fox watchers. He found that their median IQ was 80, a full 20 points below the national or international average of 100. He was quick to point out that people with 80 IQ’s were fully functional and could have  “happy life”.  Yes they certainly can. Most dogs have happy lives too, and I’m quite sure their IQ’s are no better than 80.

The point is, such folks are probably fairly incapable of critical thought. You ever hear a statement that upon first impression sounded right? Upon reflection, you of course see the fallacies within it. You realize it is not at all true, but it’s one of those things that people might have accepted for centuries without really asking themselves, “is this really true?”

Take for instance the phrase, give a man a fish and you will feed him forever, teach a man to fish and he will feed himself.

That  sounds oh so true. But is it?

It can be. But if the man lives in the desert, it’s not likely to help him much. Or if he is very old, or disabled, or has others to care for that take up all his time. So it’s a general proposition that handouts aren’t always the best answer, but then again, sometimes they are.

Comparisons can get you in a world of trouble too. The Republicans like to compare the state of the US budget with a family budget. It seems to make sense. The average person when faced with personal debt will first of all cut out a lot of things from their budget. They will cut our so-called luxuries. But what is a luxury just for starters? To a musician, cutting out a ticket to the symphony may be worse than cutting 25% of the food budget. Ya see what I mean?

And cutting spending (which Republicans tout at the answer), isn’t really how we operate is it? Like I said, it’s part of what we do. But we do other things as well. We get a second job sometimes (create more revenue) or we invest in education to learn new things that might get us a higher paying job (stimulus). Republicans always forget that stuff.

They call the wealthy job creators. But they aren’t really, only incidentally. Nobody starts out with the desire to “hire people”. When people have jobs, they get paid, and they spend money. That creates demand for products and services. That causes entrepreneurs to invest in increased production which leads usually to hiring of new people. See how that works? It’s money in the hands of the consumer that generates jobs.

My dental issues have reached gargantuan levels. The amount of money is staggering. I can afford it, if that is the right word. Spending money on my mouth is hardly my way of having fun. I would rather buy a Prius, or some similar new vehicle. And believe me I could almost do that.

My dentist is a man who thrives on courtesy. While I’m sitting there with my mouths gaping, he chatters, “Good job Sherry, you’re a great patient. Lisa? Isn’t Sherry a fine patient? Lisa you did this prep perfectly. Good job, Lisa!” Lisa of course, thanks him profusely. Excuse me if I’m not overwhelmed by “being a great patient.” I’m a paying one and that is all he cares about.

When I protest that I’m a bit shocked (well I did nearly pass out when I saw the numbers on the estimate), he nods, “yes, yes, it is expensive. So expensive. But we will work with you. Whatever you need to do, we will work with you to achieve.”

Translation: We will not cut a penny off the bill, and we will not let you owe us for ten years, paying a bit at a time. But we will do what you need a tooth at a time, even if it takes ten years. He actually proudly told me of the woman who took ten years to get her teeth done. He no doubt thinks he’s benevolent.

I figure that even the average working class stiff can’t afford dental care without insurance. Dental care is not a right. It’s only a privilege for those who can pay. How can people think that way? Of course the same goes for health care in general. Aren’t these human rights?

When the US is only the 16th best country to be born in today, something ain’t right.

So what are you bitching about today?

So You Want Right to Work Huh?

Tags

Humor, Michigan, Right-to-work state, satire, unions

The mantra of the GOP.

Remember when the good guy was about to die and he grabbed the bad guy at the last second, and the both fell into the bottomless chasm?

You don’t?

Well my point is that while that’s a good thing in that case, it’s usually the design of the petulant self-observed shit who decides that life is not worth living because of X, so he’s gonna take out as many others as possible when he goes.

I fervently request that he just go alone. You know the type. Suicidal nut kills family and then self. Just kill self please. Seriously if you must end life, just end your own.

Well the GOP seems engaged in that kind of thing these days. In the waning days of lame duckers everywhere, there seems a concerted effort on the part of departing or reduced number GOP’ers to pass all types of shitty legislation in some last gasp of “so F**K you!”

Everyone is no doubt aware that the Governor of Michigan rushed through “right to work” legislation and signed it immediately because frankly they didn’t think they could get away with it in the new-elected yet not seated legislature. I think they also added some appropriation to it which apparently makes it not subject to a referendum. Ya see, Republicans know they act against the wishes of the majority, so they try to insulate their nefarious acts so they are not easily undone.

Similarly Ricky, “I suck as a candidate” Perry just pushed through some Fetal Pain legislation as another of the ongoing ways of trying to trump Roe v. Wade, and make abortions unavailable to women. I should say he has it on his agenda for the last gasp meeting of the state legislature in January.

And plenty of the Congressional GOP caucus is still stubbornly digging in their heels that they will not vote for ANY tax increase, no no not ever.

You see, we are long past representing “the people” in this country. We are now into representing “some portion of the people, especially if they are paying me to do it” in this country.

Now call me jaded by of course who was most prominent in the Michigan right-to-work legislation? Oh Freedom Works? Yes, them. And who is them? Why the Koch brothers who write legislation that is favorable to their massive holdings and of course flood the bank accounts of those people who are willing to push their agenda in their various states. Having taking a drubbing in the national elections, the Koch’s are busy getting’ ‘er done in plenty of states.

Explain to me why anybody would want to work in a right-to-work state? Why would employers push it? Think! Because they don’t want to pay wages that are fair and they don’t want to pay for benefits and they don’t care about shop safety unless it seriously impinges on their ability to make a buck.

The GOP claims that Michigan has lost jobs because companies won’t come to Michigan because it’s unionized. They take their business to RTW states. Duh. Why? Because they can and it’s CHEAPER and it allows them to make more MONEY for THEMSELVES.

Now some say, well a job is a job. Well yes that’s like saying a cardboard box is a house because people live in them.

Shall we succumb to the lowest common denominator?

Now the uniformed say, well heck it’s not fair to MAKE me pay union dues if I don’t agree with union political policies. True enough, but my friend, you still want to take advantage of the contract that they negotiate on behalf of both union members and YOU. You take the benefit package too. Now if you want to forego that, perhaps we can talk.

Because of you take the benefits without paying for them, then you are a FREELOADER, a MOOCHER, a GIFTED ONE,  a TAKER, you know, all the things you say are so awful in our country. You would be one of THEM, and nothing is worse to you than being one of THEM is there?

Before there were unions, there were slave wages, company towns where every dime you made went right back to the company in rent and food. Before unions there were unsafe working conditions, long hours, child labor. Before unions there was no such thing as benefits. You paid your own insurance for health care and dental care, and guess what? You couldn’t afford them so you didn’t have them. Before unions you lived a mere subsistence life and there was little or no likelihood that your kids would do any better.

Do unions have problems? Sure they do, just like any organization. There are abuses and fraud and there is theft. There was probably a time when unions had too much power and companies just caved on demands and passed the costs on to the consumer. But that is not the case today.

There are benevolent employers. The stories of how they run their companies and how they treat their employees is legendary. They don’t just do all that is required. When the going gets awful, they go without themselves trying to hold the line and not lay off anyone. They provide day care by choice. They provide health clubs inside the company, walking trails and meditation rooms. They invest in how to provide the best environment for their workers and they get the best out of them. The loyalty and productivity are also legendary.

But they are the exception. A goodly number of CEO’s are sociopathic individuals. They don’t care about your needs or concerns because they can’t feel anything much at all. They cannot empathize. They are little Mitt Romneys. Business is mostly a game and games have winners and losers and they want to be winners and that is defined by MONEY. So they acquire, and they post profits, at any cost. Any cost THEY THING THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH.

They have always done this. They will continue to do this until we have bred into our business teaching a model that reflects the benevolent employer.

Until they do, unions are the only thing that stands between the worker and the Goliath corporation which will suck her dry and cast her aside when she is no longer physically able to do the job at the same efficiency level. Then, as they say, “she’s your mother, you take care of her. It’s not the government’s business to become her caretaker.” Except you have nothing much yourself. Oops, I guess you forgot. You’re a worker too.

And retire? No, they will carry you out and throw you in a box. And your family will figure out some way.

Don’t think that will happen?

Read your history.

It did.

And you want to return us to the same state of affairs where that happened.

Think!

Wake up dude. You are being taken for a ride by those who have no interest in your success, only in your compliance with their agenda.

You aren’t going to take me with you. I promise you that.